Contact lenses provide a means for vision correction for a wide range of consumers. The advantages of contact lens wear are numerous. Improved convenience and improved appearance in comparison to spectacle glasses are probably the two most important advantages to most consumers. However, contact lenses require stringent care regimes in order to ensure comfort and avoid ocular infections. Proper care of contact lenses typically requires the consumer to periodically clean, disinfect, and/or rinse the lenses. Cleaning usually refers to removal of lipids, proteins or other matter which has become affixed to a lens. Disinfecting usually refers to inactivating of harmful bacteria or fungi whenever the lenses are removed from the eye, which is usually on a daily basis. Cleaning typically occurs less frequently than disinfecting, with a weekly cleaning regime being most common. Rinsing usually refers to removing debris from the lens before placing the lens in the eye.
Disinfecting, cleaning and/or rinsing of lenses often occur by immersing a lens in an appropriate lens care solution (for example, a single- or multiple-purpose care solution) in a contact lens case. Such lens cases can be used to store contact lenses between use periods. When it is desired to treat contact lenses, the appropriate contact lens care composition is removed or dispensed from a bottle or container including the composition and passed into the contact lens case in which the contact lenses have been placed. Contact lenses are often left in the lens care solution in the lens case for an extended time, for example, overnight or at least several hours. After treatment, the contact lenses are ready for wear in the eyes of the user.
The proper care of contact lenses presents the user with a substantial inconvenience in handling and storing at least two containers—one bottle for retaining a lens care solution and one lens case for treating and storing the lenses. In particular, because the solution bottle and the lens case are separate components, their organization and portability in-home and out-of-home can be challenging. For example, in in-home situations, an appropriately sized shelf space is required for organizing and storing these multiple components. Moreover, one of the lens care components may become misplaced or otherwise unavailable. In out-of-home situations (e.g., when traveling or at work), one of the lens care components can quite easily be misplaced or not packed, in particular under the circumstance where a lens treatment requires extended time.
There have been numerous attempts at improving contact lens care systems. For example, systems have been suggested in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,940,589; 3,326,358; 4,429,786; 5,127,517; 6,073,757; 6,536,453; Des. 405,260; and Des. 404,915; and published PCT International Patent Application No. WO 95/34231. However, there remain problems with commercially available contact lens care systems in view of storage, portability, convenience and aesthetic appeal.
Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide a system in which all of the lens care components are better organized for storage, portability, and easy access and use. It is to the provision of a system meeting these and other needs that the present invention is primarily directed.